Natural Science Forum / Biology / Evolution / October 2006

In evolutionary theory (as far as I understand it),
   1) an organism is not going to survive unless it is strong in its
daily life, and
   2) dominant genes prevail, recessive genes die out.

Below is an article on the evolution of intelligence and the role of
language in that. While I'll concede this importance I'll note many
"sites" state "non-verbal" body language is just as important if not
more important than verbal language. "If" that is the case that

How did violence and aggression evolve in human beings, and what
evidence would you supply to support your position?
Did the earliest humans employ violence against one another, or was the
behaviour learned out of necessity?

New Theory For Mass Extinctions
A new theory on just what causes Earth's worst mass extinctions may help
settle the endless scientific dust-up on the matter. Whether you favor
meteor impacts, volcanic eruptions, cosmic rays, epidemics, or some other

ON PHYLOGENETIC TREES
The following points are made by D.A. Baum et al (Science 2005 310:979):
1) The central claim of the theory of evolution as laid out in 1859 by
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) in The Origin of Species is that living species,

A team from Oxford University has discovered that the Celts, Britain's
indigenous people, are descended from a tribe of Iberian fishermen who
crossed the Bay of Biscay 6,000 years ago. DNA analysis reveals they
have an almost identical genetic "fingerprint" to the inhabitants of

Capuchin monkeys live in groups of about 40 with a highly evolved social
structure. One of their most important food items are nuts. They test them
by tapping and strip those that have the correct ripeness dropping them onto
the forest floor where they harden over time. Some of ...

I've got an untypical question (I need it to solve some kind of quiz).
The question is: what is the name of an enclosed garden with chalcidoid
wasps in one of the chapters ot the book I mentioned in the topic?
I'd be very grateful if someone could help me; I don't have any access

Learning To Live With Oxygen On Early Earth
Scientists at the Carnegie Institution and Penn State University* have
discovered evidence showing that microbes adapted to living with oxygen 2.72
billion years ago, at least 300 million years before the rise of oxygen in

In 2001 the Human Genome Project delivered the first draft of the
promised sequence of human DNA, and revealed that we have about 35,000
genes...The figure may be even lower, as low as 25,000."
E. Jablonka and M. J. Lamb, "Evolution in Four Dimensions."

Researchers Find Smallest Cellular Genome
The smallest collection of genes ever found for a cellular organism comes
from tiny symbiotic bacteria that live inside special cells inside a small
insect.

Thanks Jim.
Here a few of the criticisms of Salthe et al that I dug up:
[moderator's note: Again, let's watch ourselves. Responding to
people like Wells almost inevitably takes us over the line into

The first step IMO for learning how life began or -
how chemical responses to energy led to stability we call life -
is to find the temperature range that started it.
Only then do we know the energy source that forced chemicals

Complexity theorist Stan Salthe has occasionally been mentioned
with approval in this group.  It may be of interest that he is
now listed as one of the signers of the Discovery Institute's
"Dissent from Darwinism" list.

A question that I'm sure someone here can answer for me:
In my basic understanding of genetic recombination, two chromosomes
recombine with crossings at essentially random locations in the DNA
sequence. Most of the crossing points, if selected randomly, occur in